Menendez lawyer denies bribery scheme, says gold bars are his wife’s

By Holmes Lybrand, Sabrina Souza and Gregory Krieg | CNN

Sen. Bob Menendez’s lawyer launched his defense Wednesday in a Manhattan courtroom, insisting that the New Jersey Democrat never engaged in the international bribery scheme described by federal prosecutors and asserting that there were “innocent explanations” for the tangle of alleged crimes that has already upended Menendez’s political career.

“They want you to be blinded by the gold and the cash,” Menendez attorney Avi Weitzman told the jury...